Monday, June 29, 2015

From USCIS: On June 5, 2015, USCIS will reopen the congressionally mandated fiscal year (FY) 2015 cap and will accept Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting new H-2B workers with an employment start date between April 1 and September 30, 2015.

Why USCIS is Reopening the 2nd half FY 2015 Cap for H-2B Petitions
USCIS’s
role in managing the H-2B cap involves ensuring that enough Form I-129
H-2B petitions with a sufficient number of beneficiaries have been
approved to fully subscribe the H-2B cap each year. It can be difficult
to estimate in advance how many beneficiaries of an H-2B petition
approved by USCIS will actually seek H-2B status or eventually be issued
an H-2B visa by the Department of State (DOS). USCIS strives to
reasonably estimate the number of petitions the agency may approve
before the annual cap will be reached.

On April 2, 2015, USCIS announced
it accepted and approved a sufficient number of H-2B petitions to meet
the congressionally mandated annual cap of 66,000 H-2B visas. USCIS
considers numerous factors when determining how many petitions and
beneficiaries to accept to fully utilize the H-2B cap. From June 3, 2014
through March 26, 2015, USCIS accepted about 3,900 petitions
(consisting of about 77,000 beneficiaries) towards the H-2B FY15 cap.
USCIS believed this was sufficient to fully utilize the FY15 cap.

Friday, June 26, 2015

The following chart shows the changes that have been made to the Country Reciprocity Tables since last publication.

Also, additional items may have been added to our homepage reflecting
the various clearances that are required for some nationality groups,
certain Presidential Proclamations affecting visa issuance, and the
"Temporary Reciprocity Schedule" that is used for newly-independent
countries, or when deemed necessary.

A new H-1B petition, a new H-4 change of status application, and an application for employment authorization?

Yes, but this scenario is possible only if your H-1B spouse has an
approved Form I-140 or is requesting an extension of stay under sections
106(a) and (b) of AC21. Your spouse’s employer can file Form I-129 for
your H-1B spouse no more than six months before the date the employer
needs your spouse to work.
Please note that under this
scenario, we cannot adjudicate your Form I-765 until we make a
determination about both your H-1B spouse’s eligibility for H-1B status
under sections 106(a) and (b) of AC21 and your eligibility for H-4
nonimmigrant status.
In either of the above scenarios, USCIS will not begin the 90-day interim EAD clock until we make a decision on your spouse’s H-1B status and your H-4 status.

Will the Form I-765 be a paper-based application, or will it be an electronic application?

If you are applying for employment authorization based on your H-4
nonimmigrant status, you must file a paper Form I-765 application. We
will not accept electronic Form I-765 applications.

What evidence should I, as an H-4 nonimmigrant, submit to demonstrate my eligibility for employment authorization?

When applying for employment authorization based on your H-4
nonimmigrant status, submit the following with your application to
demonstrate eligibility:

Evidence of your H-4 nonimmigrant status;

Evidence
of your qualifying spousal relationship with the H-1B principal
nonimmigrant (such as a copy of your marriage certificate);

Evidence of your spouse’s H-1B nonimmigrant status, such as:

A
copy of Form I-797, Notice of Approval, for Form I-129 filed on your
H-1B spouse’s behalf (if already approved and not being filed with your
application for employment authorization);

A copy of your H-1B spouse’s Form I-94, Arrival-Departure Record;

The
receipt number of the approved Form I-129 filed on behalf of your H-1B
spouse (if already approved and not being filed with your application
for employment authorization); and/or

A legible copy of the
personal data pages of your H-1B spouse’s passport, the visas on which
he or she last entered the United States, and the latest U.S. admission
stamps in his or her passport.

If you are applying for employment authorization based on your spouse’s grant of H-1B status under AC21 §§ 106(a) and (b), include the following evidence:

Evidence
that your H-1B spouse is the beneficiary of a Permanent Labor
Certification Application filed at least 365 days before the expiration
of his or her six-year limitation of stay as an H-1B nonimmigrant. Such
evidence may include, but is not limited to:

A copy of a print
out from the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) website or other
correspondence from DOL showing the status of the Permanent Labor
Certification Application filed on your H-1B spouse’s behalf; or

If
DOL certified the Permanent Labor Certification, a copy of Form I-797,
Notice of Receipt, for Form I-140 establishing that Form I-140 was filed
within 180 days of DOL certifying the Permanent Labor Certification
Application; OR

Evidence that
your H-1B spouse’s Form I-140 was filed at least 365 days before the
expiration of his or her six-year limitation of stay as an H-1B, and the Form I-140 remains pending. Such evidence may include, but is not limited to:

A copy of your H-1B spouse’s Form I-797 Receipt Notice for Form I-140; or

The receipt number of your H-1B spouse’s the pending Form I-140 filed on behalf of the H-1B spouse.

If you are applying for employment authorization based on your spouse being a beneficiary of an approved Form I-140,
include evidence that the Form I-140 filed on your H-1B spouse’s behalf
has been approved. Such evidence may include, but is not limited to:

A copy of the Form I-797 Approval Notice for Form I-140; or

A
copy of the Form I-797 Receipt Notice for Form I-140 along with an
explanation about why the Form I-797 Approval Notice is unavailable.

Have been granted H-1B status in the United States under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000
as amended by the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations
Authorization Act (AC21). AC21 permits H-1B workers seeking
employment-based lawful permanent residence to work and remain in the
United States beyond the six-year limit.

Please note that you may not apply for employment authorization under these regulations until May 26, 2015. If
granted employment authorization under these regulatory changes, H-4
dependent spouses will receive a Form I-766, Employment Authorization
Document (EAD), as proof of that authorization.

We are posting
these Frequently Asked Questions in response to this stakeholder
teleconference.

Frequently Asked Questions

Determining If You May Apply for Employment Authorization

As
an H-4 nonimmigrant, would my employment authorization be limited to
just my H-1B spouse’s time under AC21? For example, if my H-1B spouse’s
petition is approved for the remaining time left in the 6-year period of
admission plus the one year under AC21 §§ 106(a) and (b), and
my H-4 status is granted the same period of time, how long will my
employment authorization be valid for?

Your
employment authorization expiration date generally will match your H-4
nonimmigrant status expiration date. USCIS may grant employment
authorization for the maximum time allowed even if the AC21 §§ 106(a)
and (b) portion of your H-1B spouse’s extension is only for part of the
full validity period. Under this scenario, your H-1B spouse’s extension
has been granted under AC21 §§ 106(a) and (b), so you would be eligible
for employment authorization for as long as your H-4 status is valid.

Friday, June 19, 2015

From USCIS: Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson
has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible nationals of
Somalia (and eligible individuals without nationality who last
habitually resided in Somalia) for an additional 18 months, effective
Sept. 18, 2015, through March 17, 2017.

Current TPS Somalia
beneficiaries seeking to extend their TPS must re-register during the
60-day re-registration period that runs from June 1, 2015, through July
31, 2015. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) encourages
beneficiaries to re-register as soon as possible once the 60-day
re-registration period begins. USCIS will not accept applications before
June 1, 2015.

Friday, June 12, 2015

EB1: All
EB1 categories are current and should continue to
remain current for fiscal year. Demand continues to be around 1650 every month (per the latest pending inventory).

EB2 ROW: This
category continues to remain current. Per the latest report, demand in EB2ROW has increased significantly. However, since it can get spillover from EB4/EB5 and EB1 categories, this category is expected to remain current for FY 2015.

EB2 China: EB2 China moved forward by 4 months in this visa bulletin after moving 12 months in the last visa bulletin. It is likely to continue to
move forward around at a fast pace in the next few months.

EB2 India: As mentioned in earlier blog post, demand in EB2 ROW has increased significantly. This directly impacts the amount of spillover visa available to EB2 India category. Due to increase demand in EB2 ROW, the total supply has decreased significantly in this category. Because of this, this category did not move forward in this visa bulletin;

In previous visa bulletin, it had moved
forward by 5.5 months in this visa bulletin. In addition, there are applicants in EB2 who have not yet filed
their application as well as applicants who will be porting from EB3
India to EB2 India.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

From USCIS: Starting May 26, 2015, USCIS will
temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B extension of stay
petitions until July 27, 2015. During this time frame, petitioners will
not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service,
for a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting an
extension of the stay for an H-1B nonimmigrant.

USCIS will
continue to premium process H-1B extension of stay petitions filed with
Form I-907 premium requests prior to May 26, 2015.

USCIS will refund the premium processing fee if:

A petitioner filed H-1B petitions prior to May 26, 2015, using the premium processing service, and

USCIS did not act on the case within the 15-calendar-day period.

Premium Processing Remains Available for Certain H-1B Petitions

Premium processing remains available for:

Form I-129 H-1B petitions subject to the H-1B cap and cap exempt petitions, as long as the petition is requesting:

A change of nonimmigrant status, or

Consular notification;

Form
I-129 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals who already have
H-1B nonimmigrant status, as long as the petition is requesting:

Consular notification, or

An amendment of a previously approved petition that does not include a request for an extension of stay;

Has
been granted H-1B status under sections 106(a) and (b) of the American
Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 as amended by
the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act
(AC21). AC21 permits H-1B nonimmigrants seeking lawful permanent
residence to work and remain in the United States beyond the six-year
limit on their H-1B status.

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